Shatabdi grows vertical

Having already enhanced the seating capacity of passenger coaches by making design modifications...

Having already enhanced the seating capacity of passenger coaches by making design modifications, Indian Railways is now set to take the idea a step further by introducing air-conditioned double-decker coaches with chair-car seating for Shatabdi trains.

After months of planning and study, the Mechanical Directorate of the Railway Ministry has finally approved a design for a double-decker air-conditioned chair-car coach, which will take the seating capacity up from the current 78 to 92 seats, pushing up the Railways8217; earnings in the process.

8220;The layout plan as well as the Railway Board8217;s policy decision has been communicated to the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala. Instructions have been issued to get a prototype of a double-decker coach manufactured,8221; a senior railway official told The Indian Express. Once all the trials and tests for the prototype are cleared, the Ministry wants to deploy these coaches for Shatabdi trains on key routes which have a higher volume of traffic.

The new design cleared by Rail Bhavan essentially envisages utilising the space between the two bogies sets of wheels under a coach, while also increasing the height of train cars.

8220;We have space available between two sets of wheels. The idea is to lower the floor of the coach by around 1.5 feet between these two sets of wheels, thus creating additional space in a well-shaped arrangement. Similarly, increasing the height of the coach by around 20 cm will give us extra room to create space for a double-decker configuration,8221; explained an official, who is involved in the project.

Stairways on both sides of the coaches will enable passengers to access the upper deck.

However, this is not the first time that the Indian Railways has operationalised the concept of double-decker coaches. A few such non-AC coaches are still in operation on trains like the Flying Rani between Mumbai Central and Surat and the Mumbai-Valsad Passenger on the Western Railways. Nonetheless, these trains have certain disadvantages attached.

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8220;A non-AC double-decker coach has its own set of problems. For instance, since the seating level in the lower deck is parallel to the platform level, a lot of dust and garbage generally make their way inside the coaches. That is why the idea this time is to have air-conditioned coaches so that the windows are closed and such problems can be avoided,8221; an official said.

Now, Railways is gearing up to expedite the manufacture of the prototype, which will then be subject to rigorous tests 8212; like crash tests, squeeze tests and oscillation tests. Once these are cleared, a go-ahead in the form of a safety certification from the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety will be issued.